Queer romance movies with couples of color and optimistic endings
A list of queer films in which the romantic leads are all non-white and the ending is hopeful, if not happy.
Some of us who are LGBTQ+ people of color living in white-dominant societies have had the experience of being unwelcome in white-dominant queer spaces unless we were dating a white person. Filmmakers and other storytellers pitching a gay or trans romance with 2 leads of color have been told by gatekeepers that they have to make one of the leads white to improve marketability.
Granted, the silencing of queer people of color who choose to love other people of color may be less of an issue in the 21st century than it was in the 20th century, but we still have ways to go.
In the list below, we center queer love stories of between individuals from non-European countries or from communities of color in white-dominant societies.
Feature Films
The teenage daughters of two rival politicians running for local office become fast friends and fall in love, but friends and family disapprove of their relationship. When writing Rafiki (Swahili for “friend”), Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu took inspiration from Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko's short story "Jambula Tree", which won the Caine Prize in 2007.
A sullen boy is assigned a talkative cat-loving desk mate at school. As the two boys become reluctant study partners, they bond over homework and a pet cat. But the mother of one of the boys is leery of their growing closeness. The title of this film from China《猫系同桌是大神》has also been translated as “My desk mate is a cat” or “His cat boyfriend”.
How I Felt When I Saw That Girl (2019)
The daughter of a widowed merchant falls in love with another young woman while her family mistakenly believes that she is in an interfaith romance with a Muslim man. This Hindi romcom has been described as Bollywood’s first mainstream LGBTQ romance.
Based on the real-life story of a dishwasher and a teacher who fell in love as young men in Mexico, this movie is directed by a friend of the now middle-aged couple. Heidi Ewing wanted to tell the story of the risks that the couple took and the hardships they endured to migrate to the U.S. where they now love each other openly and have built a home and a business together.
This documentary tells the real-life story of an Iraqi soldier and an Iraqi translator who started their romance during the Iraq war in 2004, and their struggle to stay together despite family opposition and years of separation. The couple eventually reunited in North America and were married.
In this rom-com, a Pakistani lesbian immigration lawyer falls in love with a Mexican lucha wrestler in Chicago.
In this coming-of-age drama set in Florida, the close childhood friendship between two Black boys is disrupted by a school bully who pushes toxic masculinity. A chance reunion in adulthood opens up new possibilities for connection and healing.
In this Thai rom-com, a femme college student starts out on the wrong foot with her androgynous-presenting roommate but the two eventually become drawn to each other. Lead actor Suppanad Jittaleela is known for their transmasculine presentation in real life. The movie has been followed by a couple of sequels.
Short Films
This beautifully-animated Hawaiian-inspired fantasy romance references the history of moe aikāne, socially recognized same-sex intimate partnerships in pre-colonial Hawaiʻi.
This 13-minute documentary follows powwow dance competitors Adrian Stevens and Sean Snyder, a Two-Spirit couple who overcome hurdles to competing as a couple in the Sweethearts dance category.
In this 15-minute film by Arun Fulara, an adult son is shocked to find that his widowed mother has found happiness with another middle-aged woman.
Shot in Mumbai, this 12-minute film tells the story of a young transwoman rebuked by an elder transwoman for the foolishness of yearning for romance in a world that despises them. But a chance encounter on a train rekindles hope.
Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women (1989)
This documentary short about jazz trumpeter Tiny Davis and her partner of over 40 years, drummer-pianist Ruby Lucas, won the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Audience Award in 1989.